Circular economy likely to generate 1.4 crore jobs in 5-7 years: Kant

The circular economy has the potential to generate 1.4 crore jobs in the next 5-7 years and create lakhs of new entrepreneurs, Niti Aayog CEO Amitabh Kant said Monday. Speaking at an event organised by industry body Ficci, Kant said that sustainable development and resource circularity is the need of the hour to implement the circular economy.

Circular economy implies reusing waste back into the production cycle to produce new products and uses instead of wasting such materials with embedded resources. Kant said that by 2050, the world population would reach 9.7 billion of which 3 billion people would prosper to middle-class consumption level.

This would require 71 per cent more resources per capita, thereby raising total mineral and material demand from 50 billion tonnes in 2014 to 130 billion tonnes in 2050, he noted. Kant also stressed on the need for promoting non-government organisations to spread awareness and developing a circular economy as a national agenda.

Resource efficiency is closely linked to the concept of a circular economy which has gained prominence as a policy goal for sustainable development in recent years.